Digital Commons Network^™

Maybe, Ella C. Weinmann

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Who Are Pessoa’ English Heteronyms? A Review Of Maria Colom Jiménez’ Thesis Fernando Pessoa’S English Literary Characters, Mohamed Jalid

SOROUD: The journal of Literacy Criticism

This paper aims at introducing Maria Colom Jiménez[1]’ thesis Fernando Pessoa’s English Literary Characters: A critical Study and Assessment of Personalities and Texts, which was presented in 2016 at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctorate degree. Pessoa’s heteronyms (literary characters/ personalities) is presented herein not as pseudonyms, but rather as fictional characters that undertake, alongside or on behalf of him, the task of planning, thinking, creating and writing. Such an imaginary world is, according to Jiménez, the first literary endeavor that allowed him to develop what he called ‘drama emgente’ (drama in people). …

Discourse Representation Of Self And Other In The 2020 Trump-Biden Presidential Debates, Victor Babajide Ogunleye, Adesina B. Sunday

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

Presidential aspirants in the United States engage in debates during campaigns as a medium of enlightening the electorate. Existing studies on the American presidential debates have largely focused on politeness, rhetoric, syntax, and gender, with little attention to the strategies employed to construct the self and opponent(s). Therefore, this research investigates the discourse representation in the presidential debates between Trump and Biden using van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis. Ten excerpts were purposively selected for their relevance in illustrating representation strategies. The analysis revealed positive self-representation and negative other-representation. Positive self-representation featured the self as competent, honest, altruistic, …

Navigating The Future: Language Learning, Career Readiness, And Professional Identity, Maria Shardakova, Rebecca Cravens

Russian Language Journal

The decline in Russian language enrollments reflects a broader trend of diminishing confidence in higher education, particularly in the humanities and language studies. Many Americans question whether an undergraduate degree effectively prepares students for meaningful careers, fueling skepticism about the value of language programs. Meanwhile, the job market has undergone significant shifts, with fewer lifelong careers and more frequent job transitions. In this evolving landscape, graduates must develop not only professional skills but also career management skills, including the ability to envision career paths, articulate their qualifications to employers, and construct compelling professional narratives.This longitudinal study examines the effectiveness of …

Sign Language Interpreting In Legal Settings: A Survey Of The Field, Lynsey H. Lawrence, Lori Whynot

Journal of Interpretation

This study is the first to investigate the prevalence and variety of legal contexts where ASL-English interpreters work in the United States. Effective interpreting service ensures that deaf individuals’ civic and constitutional rights are protected when they engage in the U.S. legal system. It sought to understand the current landscape of legal interpreting practice by ASL-English interpreters to better inform professional training and allocation of resources. There is a severe, national shortage of legally qualified sign language interpreters and a need for regular educational pathways and professional development to train generalist interpreters in specialized legal settings. An online survey was …

Law Or Flaw: A Double – Blind Study Comparing Student Comprehension Of Real And Ai Generated Legal Case Briefs, Grant Shostak, Nick Wintz, Melissa A. Petkovsek

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

In recent years, the U.S. legal system has seen an increase of legal filings using fictitious court cases or legal propositions generated by artificial intelligence (AI) (Stokel-Walker, 2026). Rules of professional responsibility require that lawyers review filings in which AI was used to ensure their accuracy (Missouri Bar, Office of Legal Ethics Counsel, 2024, Opinion No. 2024‑11) Despite this mandate, filings with fictitious cases and incorrect statements of law are being filed. Besides posing a threat to the parties to an action, such filings may set an unwarranted precedent for future cases. They also tie up court resources searching for …

Filling The Knowledge Gap: The National Automobile Theft Bureau And The Rise Of Private Intelligence, 1912–1941, William Murray

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the Automobile Protective and Information Bureau (APIB) and its successor, the National Automobile Theft Bureau (NATB), situating these institutions within the development of corporate intelligence in the United States. The rapid expansion of automobile ownership produced a form of crime defined by technological advancement and jurisdictional fragmentation that existing law enforcement could not effectively address. In response, automobile insurance companies created the APIB as a centralized clearinghouse for theft intelligence. By standardizing reporting, maintaining national records, and distributing investigative information, the Bureau developed an early private intelligence infrastructure that supported law enforcement. The limitations of local enforcement …

Reclaiming Narrative Authority: Gendered Violence And Feminist Reauthorship In Sharon Pollock's Saucy Jack, Jennifer Jones Cavenaugh

Theatre and Dance Faculty Publications

This article examines Sharon Pollock’s Saucy Jack (1994) as a feminist intervention into the narrative structures that have sustained the cultural authority of Jack the Ripper mythology. Drawing on feminist historiography, particularly Judith Walkowitz’s analysis of male violence as narrative structure and Hallie Rubenhold’s reclamation of the murdered women’s lived histories, the essay argues that Ripper narratives depend on three interlocking conventions: killer-centered focalization, the erasure of women’s lives, and the aestheticization of death as spectacle. Through close performance analysis, the article shows how Pollock dismantles these conventions by centering Kate, a music hall actress whose reenactments transform performance into …

The Unexpected Gift: Using Hip-Hop And Autoethnographic Methods To Challenge The “Symbolic Death” Discourse Of A Child’S Autism Diagnosis, Adam Ellis

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores the social construction of autism through an autoethnographic account of parenting an autistic child in Canada. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model, neurodiversity scholarship, and post-traumatic growth theory, the paper examines how parents may experience grief, uncertainty, and the collapse of imagined futures following an autism diagnosis, while also arguing that much of this distress is produced by ableist and deficit-oriented social systems rather than autism itself. Using arts-based research, including a rap song and music video, the article explores: (1) what it is like to receive an autism diagnosis as a parent; (2) the grieving process …

Exploring Common Understandings And Bodily Experiences Of Vulnerability In Design Researchers In Sensitive Contexts, Bhakti Moghe, Roberta Antognini, Sofie Dideriksen, Zhuochao Peng, Francesca Toso, Maarten Houben

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design researchers are increasingly being exposed to stressors while empathizing with their participants such as feeling emotionally charged, leading them to feeling vulnerable. Currently, there is a lack of clear consensus on how this vulnerability arises and manifests, hindering both individual and collective awareness and support. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical investigation into the vulnerability of design researchers. We conducted exploratory workshops with PhD students working in the field of design research in sensitive settings. The workshops consisted of three approaches to understand researcher vulnerability: (1) Reflecting on individual and collective vulnerability, (2) Exploring embodied experiences, and …

Understanding Power At The Doorstep: Examining Interpersonal Power Of Smart Doorbells Through Speculative Design, Sofie-Amalie Torp Dideriksen, Silke Snijder, Nazli Cila

DRS Biennial Conference Series

While Smart Home Surveillance Products (SHSPs), such as smart doorbell cameras, promise safety and convenience, they also reproduce asymmetrical power relations, privileging residents while exposing neighbours, visitors, and service workers to unconsented monitoring. Existing legal and technical responses focus on compliance and system design, yet overlook the interpersonal and affective dimensions of being watched. This paper presents a design-led inquiry into speculative re-imaginings of smart doorbells, aimed at surfacing and reflecting the hidden power dynamics embedded in everyday domestic interactions. We base this inquiry on an understanding of interpersonal power from the feminist theory of Matrix of Domination, allowing us …

Quilt: Designing A Values-Driven Toolkit For Surfacing Participant-Led Impact Assessment Of Participatory Design And Making Experiences, Emma Shercliff, Asha Ward

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Conventional impact assessment tools can overlook subtle sensory, cognitive and interpersonal transformations experienced in participatory design and making interventions by focusing on metrics, often retrospectively, rather than facilitating shared dialogue-based learning. The process of designing the QUILT toolkit discussed in this paper is anchored in a values-based approach that aims to prioritise participant-led narratives of discovery and change. Working with seven researcher-practitioners undertaking active projects in varied interdisciplinary and socially engaged design and making contexts, and their participant groups, we designed and tested questions, presented as a set of cards, for prompting dialogue and co-reflection. Findings highlight a) the significance …

Designing Integrated, Trauma-Informed Care Pathways For Co-Occurring Addiction And Trauma: Insights From Two Interrelated Co-Design Workshops, Troy Mcgee, India Read, Leah Heiss, Sara Daly, Katrin Oliver, Ali Cheetham, Irina Hart, Cathryn Pilcher, Anne-Laure Couineau, Shalini Arunogiri

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Co-occurring trauma and substance use disorder (SUD) are common and clinically consequential. Evidence supports concurrent, integrated responses within trauma-informed systems, yet implementation remains uneven. This study aims to identify design principles for integrated, trauma-informed care pathways by examining current service pathways and workforce capabilities across mental health (MH), alcohol and other drugs (AOD), and community health. We report insights from two interrelated co-design workshops (n>40) that included AOD/MH clinicians, hospital staff, peer and lived-experience practitioners, and community partners. Workshops used personas to surface barriers, enablers, and attributes of an enabling environment. Thematic analysis yielded five themes: Consumer experience; Workforce …

Reframing Narratives: Remedies For Improved Human Trafficking Coverage, Stefanie Henriques

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The global rise in human trafficking is not receiving adequate media attention. While newspaper coverage of the topic has increased, current research argues that the issue is framed with a lack of diversity, limiting audience understanding of its complexity. Some researchers also note that coverage disproportionately focuses on sex trafficking, with minimal attention directed to other forms of trafficking such as the labor or organ trade. This paper conducts a narrative literature analysis of media research on human trafficking, drawing on framing theory to identify dominant frames in media messaging and synthesize cross-cultural factors that impact how the issue is …

Rape Pregnancies And Consequent Ptsd Resulting From The Overturn Of Roe V. Wade, Emma Lindenfelser, Yulia Garaeva, Nenette Nti-Agyemang, Ellen Davis, Anna Kabwa, Alexandra M Calaman

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, access to safe legal abortions was limited and often restricted along racial, economic, and geographic lines. Nearly fifty years later, women’s health policy evolved again following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This court ruling decimated federal protections of abortion. This paper presents the research that the 2022 Dobbs judicial decision may contribute to and exacerbate rape-related PTSD on 1 out of 20 American who are unable to access a safe abortion after a rape-related pregnancy. Pregnant women living in conservative states that have outlawed …

The Reading Quiz And Reflective Writing At The Start Of Class, Geert Dhondt

Open Educational Resources

This assignment uses brief, unannounced reading quizzes and reflective writing exercises at the beginning of class to promote preparation, engagement, and accountability in introductory economics courses. Through low-stakes assessment and opportunities for reflection, students develop critical thinking, metacognitive awareness, and a deeper understanding of course material while providing instructors with immediate insight into student comprehension and misconceptions. By informing class discussions and encouraging collaborative learning, the assignment creates a student-centered environment that supports active participation, independent learning, and ongoing intellectual growth.

How To Pay Attention To Detail, Gregory Crosby

Open Educational Resources

This assignment examines how writing cultivates attention by asking students to describe their commute to campus, first from memory and later through deliberate observation. By comparing the two accounts, students reflect on the selective nature of perception and how conscious attention alters what they notice and record. A final rewriting exercise inspired by Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style demonstrates how language, perspective, and form shape the interpretation of experience, reinforcing the connection between observation and craft.

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems And The Principles Of Distinction And Proportionality, Nicholas Cromie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) challenge the core principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), distinction and proportionality, by delegating life-and-death decisions to algorithms rather than human judgment.  This dissertation examines whether LAWS can conform to these principles and, if so, under what conditions.  Through process tracing, the study traces the historical integration of disruptive weapons technologies, including chemical, biological, nuclear, and armed drones, into IHL-compliant frameworks or their exclusion via prohibition.  Each case reveals distinct pathways: outright bans for indiscriminate or inherently inhumane systems (chemical and biological weapons), normative restraint and limited acceptance despite destructive power (nuclear weapons) and phased …

School Just Wasn't For Me: Investigating The Intersections Of Education, Incarceration, And Improvisation, Kelly L. Brady

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

New York City is the largest city in the United States and home to the nation's largest school system.  NYC public schools are also the country's most segregated, according to a 2021 report from the UCLA Civil Rights Project.  This qualitative, Arts-Based Research study follows the development and performance of an applied theater piece created by formerly incarcerated and court-involved youth exploring their early educational experiences before encountering the juvenile justice system. Using Disability/Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and Critical Performance Ethnography this project investigates how structural systems of education and incarceration intersect to construct youth as "others," including special education, …

With A Love So Hard And Filled With Defeat:' A Queer Reading Of Bruce Springsteen, Samuel Tucker Carden

ETDs from 2020-2029

Long an open, yet misinterpreted political artist, Bruce Springsteen has never shied away from calling out injustices through his songs. Over the course of his long career, he has used his platform to lyrically speak out against war, the brutality of American capitalism, and the struggles of marginalized people of all backgrounds. However, the potential queerness of his lyrics has remained an underdiscussed political aspect of his artistry for decades, especially in academic settings. Many of the themes that Springsteen returns to in his writing – the need to hide one’s true self, struggles with self-identity, the desperate desire to …

Using Perusall To Increase Student Engagement With Assigned Readings, Diana Moore

Open Educational Resources

This assignment uses collaborative annotation through Perusall to encourage students to complete course readings and engage more actively with assigned texts. Advance discussion questions and peer annotations help students identify key ideas, develop critical reading skills, and improve their ability to summarize and synthesize information. By grading annotations for completion rather than length, the assignment promotes authentic student voices, supports the development of effective reading habits, and reduces reliance on AI-generated responses.

Preparing An Annotated Bibliography For A Criminal Justice Class, Fabiola Ceballos-Durham

Open Educational Resources

This assignment introduces students to the research process in criminal justice by requiring them to locate, evaluate, and annotate scholarly and credible sources related to their assigned topic. Through the use of library databases, web evaluation techniques, and APA citation style, students develop information literacy skills while identifying key findings, gaps, and areas of interest within the existing literature. The completed annotated bibliography serves as a foundation for the Final Term Research Project by helping students refine a research focus and begin building a reference base for future assignments.

Policing Sex Trafficking: 'They’Re Never Taught, You Know', Anila S. Duro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research shows that victims of sex trafficking are most likely to first come in contact with the police (Baldwin et al, 2011; Twigg, 2017) and at times police have not been able to categorize cases of prostitution as trafficking even when trafficking elements were very clear (Dank et al, 2017; Dempsey, 2017; Farrell & Cronin, 2015). Despite the legal definition of trafficking, the terms prostitution, sex work, and sex trafficking are sometimes used interchangeably by law enforcement, whereas at other times, these words refer to different sets of circumstances and have different criminalization outcomes.  Research in this area is limited …

“A Chill Wind Sweeps The High Places”: Audre Lorde’S And June Jordan’S Black Feminist Pedagogies For Remaking Higher Education, Maddie Albanese

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this paper, I center the University as one site for radical pedagogy towards social justice.  This paper examines texts written on anti-racist, anti-sexist educational movements within the City University of New York, as well as archival materials from CUNY professors on the topic of radical, social justice-oriented learning. Conor Tomás Reed’s 2023 book New York Liberation School is one recent text on how CUNY activists dismantled the distinction between the University and its surrounding community, inextricably linking academic work with social-political activism. I take his extensive history of CUNY in tandem with various pedagogies developed by CUNY feminist educators …

Critical Geopolitics And The Reconstruction Of Meaning: A Discourse Analysis Of The 'Terrorism' Label Applied To Hamas By Western Hegemony, Cahaya Mulyani Sakti, M.Hamdan Basyar

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The emergence of Hamas in 1987 cannot be separated from the configuration of modern colonialism and the continuity of occupation that shaped the political reality. Hamas’s early phase was rooted in socio-religious activities through education and community empowerment programs, before evolving into armed resistance against the occupation. The labeling of Hamas as a “terrorist” organization began in the mid-1990s in U.S. legal documents, which subsequently generated debate and gave rise to counter-narratives. This study employs the frameworks of critical geopolitics (Ó Tuathail & Agnew) and the Discourse-Historical Approach (Wodak) to analyze the labeling of Hamas as “terrorist” by Western hegemony. …

The Disconnect Of Moral Accountability: Freedom, Equality, And The Limits Of Punishment, Celine Shiah Choi

Philosophy Senior Theses

This thesis examines the justificatory foundations of moral accountability as a social practice and the profound disconnect between our ordinary intuitions about justice, the moral attitudes we hold toward one another, and the governing institutional practices of punishment. Drawing on Stephen Darwall's second-person standpoint and P.F. Strawson's account of reactive attitudes, the paper argues that legitimate accountability presupposes two necessary conditions, freedom and equality, understood as the shared capacity of rational agents to recognize moral demands and stand in reciprocal normative relation with one another. Both conditions, however, prove deeply fragile in practice: legal institutions invoke the language of rational …

The Impact Of Policing On The Mental Health Of Black Communities, Roishetta Sibley Ozane

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Refuting Ruscism: A Critique From Biblical Social Ontology, Paul Miles

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation argues that the ideology of Ruscism is incompatible with biblical Christianity on the basis of God’s design for the individual, the family, and the country. Indeed, the extent of incompatibility between these two worldviews renders any attempt to syncretize them a significant departure from biblical Christianity. God’s design for society is an absolute standard by which political ideologies may be evaluated, and these three societal units will suffice to demonstrate that Christians must reject Ruscism.

This dissertation will describe these three societal units—the individual, the family, and the country—as they are described in biblical Christianity and contrast their …

Book Review: #Metoo And The Politics Of Transnational Feminism, Muhammad Umer Azim

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Reading Indian Newspaper Reports To Uncover Cinematic Misrepresentations Of Rape In Mom (2017) And Guilty (2020), Samikhya Dash, Soumya Jose

Journal of International Women's Studies

Hindi cinema has witnessed a transformation in the portrayal of rape narratives subsequent to India’s Nirbhaya rape case in 2012 and the global #MeToo movement in 2017. The rape narratives released after the #MeToo movement are characterised by a departure from the stereotypical depiction of rape victims as forlorn and vulnerable figures; instead, they are depicted as assertive and empowered survivors that challenge entrenched power dynamics. Hindi films such as Mom (2017) and Guilty (2020) exemplify this paradigm shift by featuring women characters who defy gender stereotypes and resist patriarchal constraints, experience rape trauma syndrome and post-traumatic growth, and embody …